


Just Us

by cabinet_man



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Multi, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:20:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22623949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cabinet_man/pseuds/cabinet_man
Summary: After a catastrophic event leaves you alone in the world, a mysterious boy clad in red takes you in. Oddly enough, everyone seems to be completely fine with this decision.A little too fine, actually...
Relationships: Dave Strider/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> heya! i originally posted this on quotev ~4 years ago, but recently i've gotten around to revising the first two chapters and continuing the story!
> 
> while there is only one relationship currently, the overall story will include all of the trolls and beta kids, and a few alpha kids as well!
> 
> this seemed pretty popular over on quotev, so i decided to post this here, too, because who doesn't love some homestuck x reader, am i right?
> 
> more tags for... everything will be added soon! :)

_"Be careful out there!"_

_"Hey! Wait for me!"_

_"Watch out! Behind you!"_

**_"NO!"_ **

Your whole body jolted upwards as the memories flashed in your head. Your breath was fast and heavy and sweat was pouring down your face and back as you took in your surroundings, trying to steady yourself after having such a vivid nightmare. Well, you couldn't even call it a _nightmare_ , because it was real. It had happened.

Slowly, your breathing began to return to its normal pace and the world around you wasn't so dizzying. You could see now that light was filtering in from the cracks and crevices of old boards that you used to cover up the broken windows. Glass was still shattered underneath, and some of the light caught the surface and allowed it to glint. Blood was spattered all around the walls of the old house, but it had long since dried. You often found yourself wondering what sort of travesty took place here, but you already know what happened. You didn't want to think much of it.

Staggering out of the bed, you reached down to grab your shoes so you could leave the room without having to worry about stepping on any stray shards of glass or rusty nails. You were still wearing the outfit you had on ever since the virus began to spread. Showering was completely out of the question (why would there be running water?), and you felt disgusting about it all. Today, you would be searching for supplies and, if you had the time, maybe even a stream that wasn't overrun by the walking dead. You were running low on medical items, so that would come first.

As quietly as you could, you slunk around the house, making sure the area was secure and there hadn't been a breach in your hideout. And after deciding that you were indeed safe, you stepped out of the shadows and sneaked a peek out of one of the shattered windows on the second floor. Outside, you saw the town was swarmed with more of those brain-dead parasites. Your heart sank. More people must have died last night.

But no matter. You had a mission in mind, and you had to get it done.

You returned to your room and grabbed your backpack from the nightstand, tugging it over your shoulders as you opened the drawer. You picked up your dual pistols, and checked to make sure their ammo was full.

It's been weeks now since the virus began to spread and infect anyone that it came in contact with. You and your... well, _you_ had been advised to seek shelter indoors and to barricade as soon as possible, which is exactly what you did. Eventually, the virus had began to kill off a portion of the population, and then some more, and more, and even more.

You had been one of the lucky few who managed to stay alive.

But... _they_ had not.

It was a failed experiment gone wrong, but you weren't so certain that you believed the government. They'd been worrying over the continuously growing population for months now.

You shook your head as you once again tried to ignore the nightmare from last night, and shoved your pistols into your belt.

You left through the back door of the house and were immediately greeted by the blazing heat of the Texan sun. It seemed hotter than usual, and you were thankful that you remembered to pack a few water bottles.

You took in the fresh- no, not fresh. You covered up your nose with your hand in an attempt to block out the smell of rotting flesh and boiling blood. It smelled horrendous, but you were certain that you did, too. Hopefully it would mask your scent.

As you continued your trek through the town, you decided it would be best to stick near the shadows. Not only to shield yourself from the blistering heat, but also to ensure that you remained stealthy. Hordes of zombies had passed you by, so you had to take extra caution as to not alert any of them. Your eyes had been focused on the large sign that had been mocking you ever since you left the house earlier, and, soon enough, you finally managed to reach the doors of the abandoned market.

You crept inside, taking note of how various cans and bottles had been skewed across the floors and avoiding them to the best of your ability. You could only imagine the panic that broke out here as your eyes settled on the overturned shopping carts, some still full of cans, some covered in splatters of (what you hoped were) fruits and vegetables. Money was scattered all over the floor of the store, but you didn't bother with trying to gather any up. It would be worthless now, since everything was most likely abandoned. The workers here were probably dead... undead? Whatever. Who cares. You didn't.

Point is, money holds absolutely no value to anyone. It's survival of the fittest now.

After glancing up at the ceiling, you discovered that medical supplies were in the far right aisle, so that's where went.

There was... actually quite a lot of materials to work with here! Bandages were pretty much all in stock, save for the handful that had most likely fallen from the shelves during the panic episode that shoppers had. Medicine of all kinds could be found in the aisle, too, along with coughdrops and surgical masks. You decided to take quite a few of each. You never know when you could catch something!

Considering that there'd been a massive heat wave, you debated on whether or not to check the back room for some kind of cooling unit. You doubted there was one, but it didn't hurt to try.

The day that the virus began to spread, it seemed as if Earth was beginning to change, too. The days got hotter and hotter and any kind of precipitation became scarce. It was the rainy season- it was supposed to be raining and keeping temperatures cool. If it got any hotter, well... you weren't really sure what would happen to you.

Your thoughts were cut short, however, when the sound of low growling came from somewhere behind you.

Your hands were on your pistols immediately as you pivoted around, scanning the abandoned market with them. A zombie stumbled out from behind the shelves and the only thing you could hear was the ringing of your pistols as you pulled the triggers over and over again until the walking corpse was walking no more. You cautiously approached it, and shot it one last time after it twitched. It stopped moving entirely after that.

Your mind was racing as you studied the corpse, reassuring yourself that this wasn't one of your friends. It wasn't, and you gave a sigh of relief.

You _had_ to save them- you just had to!

The sound of metal crashing to the floor behind you was enough to put you right back on edge, and you turned back around, aiming your pistols and expecting to find another zombie trying to attack you.

Instead, it was a blond boy who smacked your guns out of your hands. He was nearly shot in the process, but luckily managed to just narrowly avoid the bullet. You heard it shatter glass.

"Woah, woah. woah!" He exclaimed. "Calm down there, dude. I'm not here to hurt ya."

Your hands felt so empty without your pistols, and you took a few steps back. You eyed him suspiciously.

"Then why are you here?" You questioned him, slowly backing off as you tried to reach where your pistols landed. He gave a shrug.

"Same as you; my group and I are looking for supplies," he responded. He seemed to know what you were doing, and his gaze suddenly turned kind of... murder-y, you want to say?

"How come you're the only one here?" He asked you, tilting his head a little as you continued your attempt to reach your weaponry. "You get left behind or something? Your group leave you behind as bait 'cause they hated you that much?"

He sounded snarky, and that only made you more determined to reach your guns. But you found yourself stopping and walking right up to him. You shoved a finger into his chest.

"What are you trying to imply, shades?" You hissed, feeling your anger starting to bubble up. "That I don't deserve to live?"

That's when he smirked. "Precisely."

You stopped yourself from choking him right then and there.

"I'll have you know that I've never had any intentions to join a group- I don't need one," you snapped at him. He seemed pretty amused by it. "I've been here since the very beginning, and I have absolutely no intentions of ever leaving."

He quirked an eyebrow at that. " _Really_? And you managed to stay alive _this_ long without anyone watching your back? How interesting."

You resisted rolling your eyes.

"I grew up in this town," you said. "I know where everything is. I know how to get around, and I know how to keep myself safe. I don't need a group- they'll only slow me down. Besides, I'm not gonna venture out into the unknown. I'll be killed! This place is my safe haven!"

He took a step away from you. He looked almost intimidated.

You got a better look at him then. His blond hair was almost white in color and was combed neatly. His skin was pale and freckled, but you could barely see his eyes from behind the dark walls that were the lenses of his sunglasses. A beaten up pair headphones were draped around his neck, and underneath them was a red bandanna. His t-shirt was ripped and white in color, a broken record symbol emblazoned on it as the design. Overall his outfit was very aesthetically pleasing, but you couldn't imagine how hot he must feel wearing a pair of ripped jeans.

The coolest thing about him, though, was his weapon of choice: a really rad-looking sword-machine-thingy. You weren't sure what it was, actually. Either way, it looked really fucking cool.

He scoffed, and you were brought back to reality. He looked mildly annoyed.

"Yeah, well. If you're killed out here, don't come crying to me," he said, then paused. "But I don't think you'll be able to do any of that if you're dead."

Even if this guy did have a cool looking sword on his back, you still knew the difference between a friend and an enemy. You glared back at him.

"Don't try to run back and tell me how wrong you were when your group betrays you, dickface," you retorted. "I'm not helping you if they decide to use _you_ as bait."

He grimaced, and something flashed in his eyes. You didn't have time to catch what it was, because he was talking again.

"Well, I didn't want it to come down to this, but..." He gave you a smirk. "Guys, we got ourselves a rookie!"

He snapped his fingers, and the next thing you knew, dark figures surrounded you. There was no where to run, and when you reached down to grab at your pistols, you remembered that you hadn't picked them back up.

The darkness consumed you.


	2. Chapter 2

You felt like you were floating- floating in a vast, open plain of void. It was freezing. Maybe this was what death felt like. As you swirled and spiraled throughout the darkness, you found yourself beginning to embrace it. It felt... oddly comforting.

Just kidding.

You roused from your sleep, slowly rising up into a sitting position. The room was dim, so you couldn't really make much out. But the smell of blood was strong. It seemed to follow you wherever you went.

Nonetheless, you thought back to your previous encounter with that group of... whatever they were. Was it all just a dream? A nightmare? You highly doubted the former. You were in a secondary location, after all, and nothing good ever came out of being brought to a secondary location by a band of kidnappers. You grumbled to yourself, moving to your knees in order to search for your equipment, but to no avail.

"God _dammit_!" You hissed out in frustration, and then your eyes wandered towards the open doorway. You smirked to yourself. For a bunch of kidnappers, they sure didn't know how to properly keep a hostage secured. You stood up and brushed the dust off of your clothes, then quietly approached the doorway. You weren't entirely certain where you were, but you could definitely navigate it if you really had to.

So lost in your thoughts, you hadn't realized that there was a figure standing right in front of you until you ran into something soft and warm. You were immediately snapped out of your musings and looked up, your eyes going wide as you realized just who you had bumped into.

"Didn't think you'd be up this early." It was the same guy from yesterday- the one who planned that ambush on you! "But whatever. C'mon, we got somewhere to be."

Not giving you enough time to fully process what he meant by that, you suddenly found him grabbing onto your shoulder and directing you out of the room. You idly wondered if you'd be able to make a run for it, but then remembered something important: you had no idea where you were. Even if you wanted to escape, you had no idea where the hell you'd go once you broke out of his hold.

The blond directed you through the winding halls of what looked to be a bunker until you reached a large, rounded room that was lit up by various LED lightbulbs strung around the room. You blinked in surprise after noticing that you and your kidnapper weren't alone, though.

These people didn't look much like people, though.

All eyes were on you as you were roughly pushed into the center of the room, and you could hear their faint whispers as you hit the ground. You immediately took notice of dirt-covered black shoes stepping towards you, causing you to look up.

The man wasn't incredibly tall, much to your relief. In fact, he probably would've looked completely unintimidating if not for the fact that he had a nasty, ever-present scowl plastered onto his face. 

"AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE?"

The pure rage in his gravelly voice caught you off-guard, and for a moment you weren't entirely sure how to respond.

Thankfully, you didn't need to figure out what to say.

"You told us to search for other survivors," your kidnapper spoke up. You turned your head to look at him while you pushed yourself up into a sitting position.

"I DIDN'T SAY TO BRING THEM HERE, FUCKWAD," the other man growled.

"Not two butt iin, but 2triider wa2 the one calliing the 2hot2 ye2terday." One of the other, uh... you had no idea what it was, actually. But whatever it was, it definitely wasn't human.

You just barely missed the shouty one's scowl deepening.

"ALRIGHT. WHO ELSE DECIDED TO FUCKING IGNORE ME AND LISTEN TO STRIDER AGAIN?" He asked, and several hands hesitantly rose up. He didn't look too pleased with that. "GREAT! AWESOME! ABSOLUTELY FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC."

"Oh come _on,_ Karkat, we could really use their help," the blond, "Strider," replied. "It won't be that bad."

"DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME?"

The room fell deathly silent.

"...of course I remember, moron. But this one's different."

"WHAT IN THE EVER-LOVING FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN."

Strider sighed. "Just trust me. And if I'm wrong, I'll be the one to fix everything. Promise."

Karkat rolled his eyes and seemed to actually consider it for a moment. Then he took a deep breath.

"WE'LL TAKE A VOTE," he announced. "HOW MANY VOTE TO KEEP THE NEWCOMER?"

A couple of hands shot up in the air, hesitantly followed by several more. The air was tense.

He sighed.

"MAJORITY RULES. THEY STAY WITH US."

"WHAT!" You shout, scrambling up to your feet. Karkat's eyes locked onto your own.

"YOU HEARD WHAT I SAID. YOU'RE STAYING WITH US."

You felt almost offended by that.

"That's not fair! I should get to decide whether or not I stay, asshole!" You heatedly spit back, hands clenched at your sides. You watched as he broke eye contact just to roll his own eyes at you. He clearly didn't want to be putting up with this right now.

"YOU GOT KIDNAPPED, APPARENTLY. SO IT'S KIND OF FUCKING OBVIOUS THAT YOU CAN'T HANDLE THINGS ON YOUR OWN," he responds, crossing his arms. "MEETING ADJOURNED. I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW."

He shouldered past you, not even sparing you a second glance as he made his way across the room and exited through the same way you entered. The others that were sitting around you stood and started socializing amongst themselves.

Someone tapped your shoulder, and you whipped around only to find your kidnapper standing there. He looked more relaxed than anything.

"Sup?" He asked, giving you a peace sign. "The name's Dave, by the way. I don't think I properly introduced myself earlier."

You glared at him. "Well no shit, you kidnapped me."

He snorted at that, almost as if this was a completely normal reaction to something he did on a regular basis.

"So what's your name?"

Wow this guy was forward.

"(Y/N)," you reply.

"(Y/NNNN)," he echoed. "Really rolls off the tongue."

"Thanks?" You weren't really sure how to respond to that. He patted you on the shoulder.

"Better get used to life around here real quick," he simply stated, then walked off to talk to someone who looked incredibly similar. Maybe they were brothers?

You shook your head. You had to focus! Now how the hell were you gonna get out of here...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter @ anonumii
> 
> trrain-wreck.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

The bunker was something of an acid trip. But you weren't tripping on acid and everything seemed more surreal the more you lingered on that fact. You've never seen anything like the people- no, they weren't people, actually. You had no idea what they were, with their grey-colored skin and colorful eyes and candy corn horns that protruded out from the mass of black hair that sat on the top of their skulls.

They were bipedal and practically human, minus those very obvious differences between them and the human race. They spoke oddly, with different kinds of lisps- "quirks" as they called them. It seemed to be something common among them all- it was very easy to assume that all of them were the same species.

There seemed to be some kind of caste system, though, based on how they all interacted with one another.

For instance, some of them spoke far too highly of themselves and belittled those who adorned red-orange-yellow-green colors yet idolized those who wore blue-indigo-violet-fuchsia colors. The humans were on the scale of belittlement for reasons you had yet to fully understand, but you didn't really want to delve too deeply into whatever fucked up society they had going on. You could only assume that it was worse on whatever planet these guys came from, but you really couldn't find yourself caring for very long. All you could think about was the team you had lost- the team you _destroyed_.

You sat on the floor, your back propped up against the grimy walls of the bunker as you stared up at the grate above you. Light filtered in through the slits of the metal, and you couldn't help but let out a sigh.

The boy who found you had been keeping a watchful eye on you. You felt like a prisoner down here- and maybe you were one. After all, you've been kept here against your will. The others were still discussing ideas on what exactly they should do to you.

You closed your eyes and leaned your head against the wall, feeling the coldness of it on your scalp, until you heard footsteps approach.

"Hey," a voice suddenly spoke up, causing you to snap your eyelids open so you could peer at whoever decided to disturb you.

"Hey yourself," you grumbled as a response, taking notice of Dave as he now blocked out the sunlight. His face was stoic as always, but he seemed more menacing like this. He was like a silhouette the darkest corners of an unlit home.

"We've been talking," he said simply.

"And?"

"You're all on your own, so we're gonna keep you with us, whether you like it or not."

You rolled your eyes. "Well, chief, that sounds like a terrible idea to me." You had to stop yourself from letting out a bitter laugh.

"See, you say shit like that and try to be all enigmatic. It's only adding more questions to the mix," he responded. You could barely make out his red irises as he boredly stared down at you behind his sunglasses.

"Don't care," you mumbled. "Anyways, you ruined the nice view I had."

The guy actually _smirked_ at that. You hadn't seen him show any kind of emotion the entire time you'd been there, and _that's_ the first thing he does? You frowned.

"Pretty sure I actually enhanced it, babe," he shamelessly flirted, and you could feel your frown tug further downwards.

"Believe what you want, cool kid, but I can assure you that any sight would be waaaay better than this." You vaguely gestured towards him, and noticed his smirk falter before completely falling. A crushing blow to his ego. You fucking loved every second of it.

"Y'know you could try acting decent instead of being an asshole at every given second," he said after a period of silence.

"Yeah? Well you guys practically locked me up down here so it's only fair that I make your lives miserable," you retorted, sending him a fierce glare.

"As far as we're aware, we're the only people still alive on this God-forsaken planet, so yeah, of course we're gonna try to stick together."

"Makes sense, but I was doing completely fine on my own, thank you very much." You were grouchy, but your feelings were completely justifiable. You hadn't seen the outside world for three days now, and everything underground was getting stuffy.

"Yeah, sure. Act like I didn't save your ass," he said with an eyeroll. Snarky bastard.

"Is that all you came to tell me?" You asked, deciding to change the topic. He shrugged.

"Karkalicious is the boss. If you don't do what he says then you can say sayonara to the bunker. Dude's a prick." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Karkalicious?"

"Long story."

"I can respect that."

"You're not that bad. You might be a bitch at times, but yeah, you're alright," he suddenly said, and you could feel his eyes boring into yours from behind his shades. You quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. My actions are justified," you reminded him, crossing your arms.

"No, seriously. You're probably better than the last guy we decided to take in. He went nutso on us when he finally woke up," Dave recalled. His gaze was now focused on the wall behind you. He didn't seem all there.

"Pulled a gun on us, then put it to his temple and-" He created a mock gun with his hand and mimicked a gunshot movement. "Some blood spattered onto Eridan and he had a nervous breakdown. I don't think anyone's really recovered from it."

You weren't sure what to say about that.

"But you haven't done anything like that yet so." He gave a little shrug again. "You're alright in my books."

"That sounds..." You searched for the correct words to use. "Awful..."

"We've seen worse shit out on the road. Just never someone actually doing that then and there."

"I can only imagine," you mumbled, suddenly feeling guilty for your behavior the past few days.

"So, what's your story, anyhow?" He suddenly asked, eyes returning to your form.

"You don't wanna know," you replied. You didn't want to remember, either.

But then he moved so he could sit down beside you. He nudged your shoulder.

"C'mon, you can tell me."

"I don't think I should." You could still remember their faces. Your lower lip began to tremble a little.

"You don't gotta get into details," he said more softly. "Just something basic to let us know what's up."

Your left hand scraped against the cement floor and clenched into a fist.

"My squad died. I'm the only survivor."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anonumii @ twitter
> 
> trrain-wreck.tumblr.com
> 
> you get the idea


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter's a little bit of a flashback, but isn't too revealing of what happened

The golden rays of the sun shone down on you as you trekked through the ghost town, your friends trailing close behind.

The five of you had been through it all - the first signs of the apocalypse, the small, Texan town you once loved slowly becoming... _this_ , watching as each and every single one of your loved ones was mutilated and mauled and _turned_. You were the only five left in town, as far as you were aware, so what better idea was there than to decide to try and make it out of this hellhole together?

"Yo, how much longer you plan on making us walk for?" Bro asked you, and you don't look back at him as you pulled a water bottle out of the pocket in your backpack.

You rolled your eyes affectionately. "We just left base not even five minutes ago," you reminded him, pausing to take a drink from the bottle of water. "Don't tell me you're tired already?"

Bro gave you a blank stare as he passed you up, then turned around so that he was walking backwards. You couldn't see his eyes from behind his shades, but you had a pretty good idea that they were glinting with mischief.

"I'm not," he said, "I'm just wondering how long we're gonna stay out in this heat for."

"Shouldn't you be used to the heat by now?" Jane piped up. "You've lived here your whole life, haven't you?"

Bro shrugged and shoved a hand into one of his pockets while the other adjusted his hat.

"You can't disagree that it ain't cold out," he responded.

" _Isn't_ ," Jake corrected him. "That it _isn't_ cold out."

"Don't care, Brit boy," Bro retorted, his usual monotone voice just barely giving off the impression that he was only slightly angered by the correction.

"Guys!" Roxy spoke up. "C'mooon let's not- we shouldn't be fiiighting!"

She was clearly drunk. You kind of figured, considering how wobbly she was when she walked.

Bro looked at her and skillfully stepped over a rock that attempted to trip him. He continued walking backwards with ease.

"Rox, we ain't fighting, we're just..." His voice trailed off as he searched for the right word to use. "Squabblin'."

"That's, like, eleventeen times worse!" The blonde shouted, and you shushed her. She looked annoyed.

"Do you really want to alert every walker that's in the area?" You asked, and Jane let out an "eep!" at the implications.

"Nuh," she slurred. "But these two r goin' on an' gunna give our lactation- _location_ away!"

You heaved out a sigh. You probably should've kept a better eye on her this morning.

"Well, Roxy, we aren't exactly shouting-" Jake began to say but Roxy turned to face him and pushed a finger to his lips, effectively silencing him.

"Shoosh," she said sternly. Bro gave them an amused look.

"Okay, okay-" Jake tried to add in, but Roxy was only back to shushing him.

"Don'ttalk," she slurred the words together and you wondered just how much she had to drink. She seemed... a lot more intoxicated than usual.

The two boys complied to her wishes, and Bro finally decided to turn back around. He held his arms up, hands resting on the back of his neck. He seemed really tense. In fact, everyone seemed a little... _off_ today. Maybe it was something in the air.

You stole a glance over to Jane, who was happily helping Roxy keep up with the rest of the group. Jake was walking beside them, but he seemed more focused on the shadow in front of you. He looked like he wanted to say something to Bro, but whatever crossed his mind was immediately forgotten as his eyes came to rest on something else further off in the distance.

You followed his gaze and took immediate notice of a cloaked figure who was easily taking on a horde of zombies all by themselves. Jane and Jake had already stopped dead in their tracks (Roxy had passed out at some point, you noted to yourself after glancing over), but you had to grab Bro's arm to stop him from walking any further. He must've been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed the mysterious figure.

"Who is that?" Jane whispered, but nobody could answer her question.

You all watched as the figure easily beheaded the last zombie, and then they turned towards you. Their piercing eyes struck right through as if they were warning you to stay away.

Bro had a hand clasped around the handle of his katana, but you reached up and urged him to let go. He did so, albeit very reluctantly.

The figure stared at your caravan before deciding that they had no interest in any of you, turned on their heel, and continued on their way.

You had a feeling that you'd see them again very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, bro is there instead of dirk. there is a reason behind this
> 
> anonumii @ twitter  
> trrain-wreck.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is really all i have left regarding catching everything back up to speed. i dont know when ill be putting out chapter six, but hey who knows, maybe ill surprise myself and finish it up within the next couple days

Dave looked a little shocked by your sudden confession, and put his hand on your shoulder in order to offer his condolences.

"Sorry to hear that, chief," he said with a small frown. You shrugged.

"I just wanna focus on getting them back," you murmured. "But I'm just not sure how."

You held your face in the palms of your hands, then ran your fingers up onto your scalp as you stared at the ground below you.

"I _knew_ where they were. I _knew_ that they were fine and that someone hadn't come and, like, attacked them," you continued. "But then you came along and-"

You let out a frustrated huff, feeling your fingernails starting to dig into the top of your head. You ripped your hands away from you and stood up, kicking the wall behind you in a burst of fury.

"I don't want to be here!" You exclaim, hearing your voice echo out all around you. Dave glanced up at you, getting to his feet. You turned around to face him, anger very evident on your face.

"You can't leave," the blond said quickly, pushing you back against the wall. You stared at your reflection in his shades. Your face looked filthy, but you quickly discarded that fact before you tried to see past the thick lenses in an attempt to figure out his intentions.

"Yes, you've made that very clear," you responded, taking a step forward and pushing him away from you. You could feel his eyes follow you as you maneuvered your way around him to head back to the main room, where you first met Karkat and the others. It was oddly unnerving.

"'Kay, well, I should probably head back," you announced to him, feeling your anger begin to sizzle away until it was just annoyance. Dave crossed his arms and leaned against the wall that he had pinned you to only moments before. He looked kind of cool, but you'd never admit that out loud. This guy had some serious issues. Maybe some kind of god complex? You weren't really sure, to be entirely honest. He kind of reminded you of Bro, though.

"You do that," he replied coolly. There was a small strain to his voice, though.

"Aren't you coming along?" You decided to ask, but he only shook his head.

"I'll probably just stay here for a bit. Got a lot to think about, y'know?" He said, then moved so that his back was pressed against the grimy wall instead of his shoulder.

"Right," you found yourself saying, then paused for a moment. "Thanks for, like, being cool and stuff. Uh, I'll see ya around."

And with that, you scuttled back down the hall, feeling Dave's eyes on you the entire time. God, he sure managed to make you uncomfortable, even when departing.

When you got back to the large room, you discovered that the only two people - er, _not_ people - who remained there from earlier's meeting were Karkat (of course) and (if you recalled correctly) Eridan. They seemed to be bickering about something.

Stepping closer to them, you decided to end their bickering early.

"So, uh, how much longer do you guys plan on keeping me down here for?" You asked, just loudly enough for both of their attentions to turn towards you. Eridan looked annoyed just being in your presence, but you brushed it off as post-arguing annoyance.

Karkat rolled his eyes. "DIDN'T DAVE GET IT INTO YOUR THICK THINKPAN THAT YOU'RE NOT LEAVING?"

Wow, this guy sure had a loud voice.

"You can't just keep me here _forever_ , though. That's, like, surely kidnapping," you responded, finding yourself becoming annoyed once again.

Eridan scoffed. "It's the apocalypse," he said, "howw wwould any of this be a fucking kidnapping?"

Based on small details you've noticed within the past couple of days of you being here, you've been able to piece together that nobody really liked this guy. Nobody really hated him, either. There was just a very minor friction between him and the rest of the people (you remind yourself once more that half of these guys are _not people_ ) who resided down here. You could probably discover why, simply based on this discussion with him.

"Considering you _drugged me_ and took me here _against my will_ , I'd say that's a perfect example of kidnapping someone," you snapped at him. He looked taken aback.

"Wwe _rescued_ you!" He retorted, childishly stomping his foot. His hands were clenched at his sides.

You couldn't help but roll your _own_ eyes. You turned your attention towards Karkat.

"I just wanna leave," you said, lowering your voice back to normal. "I don't want to be here."

"WELL, SORRY TO SAY, BUT YOU FUCKING CAN'T," he responded, checking over his distals. They looked filthy underneath the chipped black nail polish.

"Why?" You decided to pry, taking a step towards him.

"I CAN'T FUCKING TELL YOU THAT," he growled out in response. "NOW IF YOU'LL FUCKING EXCUSE ME, I WAS KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING?"

He and Eridan went back to their earlier spat.

You loudly cleared your throat, and they paused once again.

"DO YOU FUCKING WANT SOMETHING?"

"You didn't answer my question." Your patience was beginning to wear thin.

"LOOK," he said, "I'LL ANSWER YOUR QUESTION LATER, OKAY? BUT I'M KIND OF FUCKING BUSY IF YOU CAN'T ALREADY FUCKING TELL."

Knowing that you wouldn't be able to get anything else out of him for a while, you decided to back off. You did have some exploring to do and other interesting characters to meet, after all. Maybe one of them could help you escape this mess!

Well, you hoped so, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anonumii @ twitter
> 
> trrain-wreck.tumblr.com


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